After such a dry Summer in our gardens we are pleased to see the rain at last! Your pond has had its own struggles.
What has been the impact of the hosepipe ban on your pond?
- Has your pond liner been exposed to sun and become brittle or torn?
- You may have been unable to top up your pond at all due to the hosepipe ban.
- The only ponds that could be topped up had to have animal life or fish that would have died without water.
- Plant death was not an allowed reason to top up.
- So it is vital to replace wet habitats and plants lost in the water area during the drought.
- Our natural wildlife has struggled in the drought and many individuals may not have survived.
- Autumn will allow us to replant and renovate the pond area.
Rescue your pond:
- We need to make the pond as ready as we can for the wildlife before next Spring when they will return to mate.
- Their mating routines are even more important next year with the impact on their populations this Summer.
- Wildlife needs every pond possible to complete the pond 'corridors' they use to travel every year.
- Remember, frogs, toads and newts return along historic routes to the same ponds year after year.
- Removing any pond from that chain can have an impact on the success of their journeys.
- Make yours good for them again.
Let's sort all these issues now:
- Refill your pond as soon as possible - the recent rain should have done part of that job for you.
- Store as much rainwater as possible.
- Check your liner still holds water and mend any splits before Winter.
- Place all plants back at their correct levels if you adjusted their depths as the water level fell.
- Rafting pond plants did not put on the growth to cover the water they should have so will not need trimming back as much this Autumn - Myosotis scorpioides Veronica beccabunga
- Some upright plants struggled to put on height and flower due to the heat and lack of water - Lythrum salicaria
- Others have gone brown already and gone into an early autumn look - Butomus umbellatus Caltha palustris Potentilla palustris Juncus ensifolius but they will grow back next year.
Please don’t despair about the impact of the weather and hosepipe ban on your pond. And please don't give up on your pond. It will recover with a little help.
Try looking at our specific wildlife Collections for a few additional plants aimed at groups of wildlife:
- Pond Plant Collection for dragonflies contains 3 upright shelf plants
- Pond Plant Collection for Newts contains 3 rafting plants for the top shelf (the most likely to have suffered with reduced water levels but the most essential for newt egg laying)
- Pond Plant Collection for Pollinators contains 2 upright and 1 rafting plant
We all need to keep trying to create the best pond environments we can for the birds & creatures in our gardens. The work you put in now to re-establish this habitat will reward you and your wildlife next year.